Herbert Marcuse 1898 – 1979
Herbert Marcuse was a 20th-century German-American philosopher and a leading figure of the Frankfurt School of critical theory, particularly in its American period. His major works including Reason and Revolution, Eros and Civilization, and One-Dimensional Man (1964) developed a synthesis of Marxism and Freudian psychoanalysis to analyse the integration of dissent and the deadening of critical thought in advanced industrial societies. His writings were widely read by the New Left and the student movements of the 1960s, earning him the informal title of father of the New Left. He emigrated from Germany in 1933 with the rise of the Nazi regime and held positions at Brandeis University and the University of California, San Diego. His critical theory of advanced capitalism remains one of the most ambitious of the post-war era.
Key facts
- Nationality
- German-American
- Era
- Contemporary
- Movements
- Critical Theory, Continental, Marxism
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Herbert Marcuse:
“Free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves.”
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Attributed to Herbert Marcuse:
“The people recognise themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment.”
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Attributed to Herbert Marcuse:
“The most effective and enduring form of warfare against liberation is the implanting of material and intellectual needs that perpetuate obsolete forms of the struggle for existence.”
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Attributed to Herbert Marcuse:
“Art breaks open a dimension inaccessible to other experience.”
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Attributed to Herbert Marcuse:
“The slaves of developed industrial civilisation are sublimated slaves, but they are slaves.”